Higher energy bills for private tenants

Posted: 24/05/2012

After a study by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, it revealed that private tenants are paying more in energy bills than homeowners and tenants renting social housing.

The report found that private tenants pay an average of £31 more a year for their energy bills than homeowners and £90 more than tenants living in social housing.

Different types of dwellings and lifestyles were taken into account and the results showed that private landlords are least likely to modernise heating facilities or install insulation, therefore, costing the tenants more in energy bills.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors highlighted the Government’s Green Deal project to try and address the problem for privately rented accommodation. The Green Deal means you can carry out energy efficiency measures on your home with the reassurance that the cost of the improvements should be covered by the savings made on your electricity bill.

Another report by MyVoucherCodes found that most young people struggle to save enough money to afford a mortgage on due to the amount they spend on rent.

75% of young tenants admitted they felt trapped in the rental market. The average cost of rent from a total of 1,672 21 to 25 year old renters was £575 per month, which equates to £13,800 in rent over two years.

When tenants were asked if they were saving for a deposit for their own home, 69% said no and admitted they wouldn’t be able to pay for a deposit for at least another ten years.

In the current climate, the buy to let market is thriving due to the demand for rental property. According to a study carried out by the Landlords Panel, one in four buy to let landlords own their own property portfolio and a third have a mixed portfolio.

The percentage of landlords who live off the income made from their buy to let properties has risen along with their increased portfolio size to three quarters of landlords owning over twenty properties.

Have you been living in rented accommodation for over five years and are desperate to own your own home but simply can’t afford it? Are you a buy to let landlord and are considering buying more properties to become one of the many landlords that make a living from their property portfolio?